Utah Libraries » UPLIFT grants

My Professional Excellence Grant Experience, June 2009

admin — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:56:30 +0000

By Joanne Gialelis, Library Assistant II, Utah State Law Library

The Utah State Library Division’s UPLIFT Professional Excellence Grant provided me with an excellent opportunity. With this grant award, I was able to pay for a Collection Management course and apply the credits towards my graduate degree program at SJSU’s School of Library and Information Science. This course showed me how collections are built and changed over time. There was much discussion of the obstacles and challenges faced when trying to build and maintain a strong, relevant collection. These obstacles include censorship challenges, copyright issues and the increasing annual costs of books, videos, and periodicals.

I had the opportunity to learn about item selection tools that relate to my work in a public law library. I also learned about materials selection in subjects I don’t see in my day to day work, including entrepreneurship, home ownership, and stock investment books. The most challenging assignment was putting together an Opening Day Collection using a predetermined budget. This forced me to choose a few titles among so many available while trying to keep a variety of viewpoints.

The most valuable lesson taken from this course was that networking will be an important part of managing a library collection. Whether being active in a library association, talking to cultural or business leaders, or keeping in touch with teachers or faculty, librarians don’t work in isolation to provide the best collections and services. I learned a lot from my classmates (including two fellow Utah students) how different types of libraries face challenges such as budget crises and shared with other libraries. The class was a valuable experience that will have lasting impact on my emerging professional career.

UPLIFT Professional Excellence Grant- Shelly Maag Heaps

admin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:21:58 +0000

I received a Professional Excellence Grant from the Utah State Library to attend Emporia State University’s class called “Organization Theories for Administering Information Agencies” this spring. This class provided a great deal of information and ideas about managing libraries and other information institutions. For the final project, each student chose an issue facing library managers and researched that topic. I looked into reasons a library manager should allow teenagers to play computer games and participate in social networking on library computers. In the Fall 2008 issue of Directions, Linda Fields-Richfield discussed her realization that teens gain important literacy skills through gaming (p.4). This is one of many reasons that teen gaming and social networking are valuable to teens and should be allowed in the library. This article outlines one more of those reasons through an interpretation of a recent study on the association between teen gaming and civic involvement.

One benefit of teen gaming that is being explored by researchers is the civic experience teen’s gain from playing games. The link between teens that play games and involvement in the community is investigated in a 2008 study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. This study looked at the fact that a vast majority of American teens play video games and that there “are civic dimensions to video game play” (Lenhart, Kahne, Middaugh, Macgill, Evans, Vitak, 2008, p. viii). This study found that teens who play civic computer games, especially in a social setting are more likely to be politically involved. These games include a wide variety of elements that make many games civically tied, including: helping and guiding other players, teaching about a problem in society, exploring a social issue, thinking about moral or ethical issues, helping make decisions about how a community, city or nation should be run and organizing game groups or guilds” (Lenhart, et al., 2008, p. 41). Most teens are benefiting from these skills by playing computer games, and many are doing it in the library, a place where all teens are free to try these games and play them with friends.

While much research is still needed about the connections between gaming and civic involvement, the “Teens, Video Games, and Civics” study by Lenhart, et al. (2008) indicates that teens that play these types of games in a group are significantly more likely to:
• go online to get information about politics or current events
• raise money for charity
• be committed to civic participation
• be interested in politics
• stay informed about current events
• try to persuade others to vote a particular way in an election
• participate in a protest, march, or demonstration (p. 44).

All of these things are important in a society where citizens can make a difference and the library should be promoting these activities. While it is surprising that allowing gaming can result in these activities, and it is not a logical link many people make, showing this connection to local decision-makers and library leaders can make gaming that much more valuable to individual institutions.

This is also a strong reason to have a dedicated teen area where teens can talk about the games they are playing and work together on projects and networking sites. Facts like, “Teens who play games socially are more likely to be civically and politically engaged than teens who play games primarily alone” (Lenhart et al., 2008, p. 45) and that “Teens who take part in social interaction related to the game, such as commenting on websites or contributing to discussion boards, are more engaged civically and politically” (Lenhart et al., 2008, p. 45) strongly support the argument that teens should have the opportunity to play together. In my own library in Springville, groups are often gathered around the computers, playing together on the same or individual computers. They talk about what they are doing and work together to get the best results. This interaction is encouraged and it is one way a library can help build up a more responsible constituency without teens even knowing they are getting anything other than time to play. As a result of this training, all of our summer reading activities for teens will be followed by a game night and Springville Library will continue to encourage teens to play games in groups as we build a new library with a teen area designed to include these activities. We can all help teenagers grow into members of a larger civic community simply by allowing and encouraging them to play games in our libraries.

Work cited
Lenhart, A., Kahne, J., Middaugh, E., Macgill, A., Evans, C., Vitak, J. (2008). “Teens, Video Games, and Civics.” Pew Internet and American Life Project. Retrieved March 23, 2009, from http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Teens_Games_and_Civics_Report_FINAL.pdf

UPLIFT grant: Utah Library Assoc. Conference

admin — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:34:47 +0000

Utah Library Association received an UPLIFT Organizational Resource grant from the Utah State Library in 2009. About 400 librarians and library enthusiasts attended the annual conference, “Utah Libraries: Turning up the Volume.”

Four presenters were sponsored, in whole or in part, by the grant:

Norma Blake, NJ State Librarian, LJ 2008 Librarian of the Year, ULA keynote speaker, “Libraries Surviving Tough Times”
Joyce Saricks, “What we didn’t learn in library school”
Celia Ross, “Making sense of business reference”
Grace Mary Gouveia, “Collecting and supporting local history”

Here’s what attendees said about the programs:

Confidence building
Exceedingly interesting
She (Joyce Saricks) was amazing.
Great ideas and how-to with a small staff
Dr. Gouveia was very interesting–good choice for a presenter
I will share this info with my library’s other reference librarian
I can serve our community’s needs better because of this training
Norma gave a wonderful presentation about coping in today’s world
Celia was great! Excellent speaker with great useful information and sources
I enjoyed learning from this very knowledgeable and competent presenter. She is very good at explaining complex info in an understandable way. I would recommend her returning in the future for additional presentations.

UPLIFT Grant: The Economics of Consortia class

admin — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:49:19 +0000

Joanne Taylor received an UPLIFT Professional Development grant in 2009. One class she attended through the grant was Economics of Information. Here are her thoughts on just one piece of the puzzle:

The Economics of Consortia

“Libraries have long engaged in cooperative ventures. Government documents and interlibrary loans are two of the older and better-recognized cooperative arrangements among libraries. Cooperation among libraries offers participating libraries broader collections of resources to meet many and varied user information needs and often at lower cost to participating libraries. Where it would not be feasible for all libraries to house the many materials that each of their users might seek; through cooperation there is created a much broader collection that all participants may access. The concept of sharing resources has recently expanded as electronic resources and the Internet now make broad information access possible at many levels. On-line catalogs have made it possible for information seekers to view the collections of many libraries using computers from most locations. Electronic media provide full-text books and journal articles, again for information seekers living and seeking from computers at almost any location. These information opportunities have lead to the development of more extensive and creative collaboration among libraries. Further, digitization is opening the possibility for information seekers world-wide to see replications of objects, including books and manuscripts, that have long been protected in secure archival libraries and previously only accessible to limited numbers of scholars. These new media have created opportunities for cooperation among libraries and even expanding circles of cooperation among consortia. Resource sharing may well expand as current economic conditions constrict library budgets. One might anticipate that further emphasis will be placed on consortial relationships where participants may provide broader access to resources at lower cost.”

I really do appreciate how the State Library has offered this support. Thanks for all you do.

Joanne Taylor

Mission Possible

Colleen Eggett — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:45:12 +0000

By Samantha Hastings, West Jordan Library

The Uplift Grant allowed me to take the Advanced Management of Information Agencies online course through the University of North Texas. The main focus of the course was the strategic planning process, including: library vision statements, library mission statements, conducting information audits, and creating a strategic plan. This brief article will focus on rethinking library mission statements and strategic planning strategies.

Does each member of your library staff know your library’s vision and/or mission? Joseph R. Matthews (2005) explains that “In most cases, these mission statements are too lengthy and don’t really get to the heart of the library’s mission. Too often these statements erroneously include processes that the library uses to deliver its mission” (16). A good mission statement, according to Matthews, could be printed on a T-shirt (16). A good mission statement is meaningful and memorable. According to Scott Beagrie (2005), a mission statement should inspire employees to accomplish or to work toward organizational goals.

Did/do you include staff in the strategic planning process and let them feel a part of the plan? According to Joseph R. Matthews (2005), one of the seven deadly sins of strategic planning is when, “the process was dominated by the planning staff” (32). Robert W. Bradford (2001) explains that every member of an organization is important to the success of the strategy; so it is important that their concerns and opinions are a part of the strategic planning process. Charles Hylan (2005) notes that it is impossible to change employee’s behavior if the employee does not comprehend the goals that they are supposed to complete or are unable to see how the goals affect their daily work routine (8). If staff members are unaware of a mission statement or the overall goal and vision of a strategic plan they will not “buy in” to the plan and/or help accomplish it.

Your library’s mission and vision statements are possible to achieve as long as library staff are included in the planning process and work with management to make it happen.

References

Beagrie, S. (2005, Mar 31). How to…develop a corporate mission. Retrieved September 5, 2008, from http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2005/02/22/28089/corporate-mission-how-to-develop-a-corporate-mission.html.

Bradford, R. W. (2001). Building Support for the Strategic Plan: Aligning Employees with Strategy, Change Designs. Downloaded from http://www.changedesigns.co.za/Strategic%20alignment.htm.

Hylan, C. (2005, Jul 11). Clarity: The Secret ingredient of strategic plans. Accounting Today, 19 (12), 8-9. Retrieved September 10, 2008 from Business Source Complete.

Matthews, Joseph R. (2005). Strategic planning and management of library managers. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Gaming in the Library

Colleen Eggett — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:55:59 +0000

By Linda Fields, Richfield Public Library Director

I received a Professional Excellence Grant from the Utah State Library to attend the Association for Rural and Small Libraries Conference in Sacramento in September. I’ve attended the ARSL conference when it was only being held in Columbus, OH and I felt I gained enough from those meetings to make it worthwhile to attend again.

One of the programs I attended was “Video Games in the Library” by Kieran Hixon. I chose to attend this because I thought “Gaming in the Library? No way!” Sometimes I find it wise to learn about something when I have a poor attitude toward it.

The misconception that gaming is done on the internet was the main basis for my attitude. Over the years, children and internet use has proved a challenge to libraries and it was a challenge I didn’t want to tackle. So gaming is not a new activity. If you think about gaming as internet games, board games and card games, gaming has been done in libraries for years.

Gaming is also more prevalent in libraries than I ever had imagined. Scott Nicholson wrote an article for American Libraries Aug. 2008, that indicates approximately 77% of libraries game. Although when I recently attended a class at the USL I found that of the 20 libraries represented, only one allowed gaming.

Libraries need to decide whether they will allow gaming in the library, whether they will circulate games, or if they will host an occasional tournament.

Why should we support gaming in the library? Game playing is not just recreational. But literacy isn’t just about print anymore. According to Eli Neiburger in the School Library Journal, “literacy is the ability to rapidly decode abstract meaning from symbols.” And in video games these symbols can be anything. A player also needs to be able to read and understand directions, which often times are complicated. Gaming also helps develop spatial reasoning. Young gamers are learning how to learn.

So take a minute and assess the place for gaming in your library. You could throw a tournament at your library. In a small library in Colorado, Kieran attracted 75 young people to the first tournament they sponsored. The only requirement to participate was a library card in good standing. If teenagers come to the library to play educational games and they think the library is a fun place to be, they will come back again and again. For libraries to be relevant in our technological society they must engage students in the digital culture. I do intend to host a gaming tournament in the future.

Competencies for your staff

Colleen Eggett — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:00:23 +0000

American Library Association Annual Conference–2008

Friday, June 27, 2008, 8:30 – 5:00 pm

Competencies for Your Staff: From Implementation to Integration and Implementing a Staff Development Plan

Summarized by: Safi S. M. Safiullah, Reference Librarian, The Salt Lake City Public Library System

The speakers discussed how to prepare a successful staff development day to train competent staff for the libraries. The staff is the foundation of the library; individuals need to improve their skills in technology and customer services in order to serve the public better. Therefore, it is important to measure their skills. The speakers discussed various methods for measuring skills. One of the methods was to organize a conversation café, either quarterly or bi-monthly, where staff will sit in a circle, get to know each other, exchange their knowledge through casual conversation, discuss issues with others, and propagate their success stories. Library management also can send a memo with a questionnaires or surveys to staff to assess their knowledge in various skills such as software packages, listening skills, telephone courtesy, and reference and customer services. The staff will have a chance to rate them as low, moderate or high in each category. Other assessment can also be done by interviewing individual staff, reviewing their performance plans, and observing their skills in the workplace.

Data found from the measurements can be used to determine where the staff needs to improve their skills. The library management needs to review the outcome of the assessment and divide them into different categories. Each topic needs to be researched before these can be included in the training plan. During staff development day, a flexible training session can be organized, in which staff would be trained by various trainers. The trainers can be brought from outside the system, from state or local libraries, or from within the library system. The trainers should be flexible in their methods. Besides their presentation, there should be hands on activities and exercises, where staff gets hands-on practice. The staff should be given chances to discuss their issues and a collective solution should be carefully implanted by the system.

The speakers discussed in detail how to write a staff development plan, and then distributed samples of these plans from various library systems. Lively discussions took place when speakers defined the staff development and training is a “continual process that orients, trains, and develops each individual throughout his/her association with the library.” The library should do as much as possible to improve the employees’ skills. However it is also widely agreed that it is the “responsibility of each individual to assess his/her needs and seek opportunities for personal growth.” In order to have a successful staff development plan, the presenters suggested that the library needs to form a staff development committee (SDC) with a clear vision and mission. The responsibilities and duties of the library administration, staff development committee members, continuing education coordinator, department heads, supervisors, and staff members were discussed as pillars to the success of the staff development plan.

The main Speakers were: Cal Shepard, Solinet, Thomas W. Galante, Director; Queens Library; Betha Gutsche, Curriculum Developer, WebJunction, Lori Reed, Training Specialist, Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, Catherine Vaughn, Continuing Education Coordinator, Lee County Library System and Pat Tavis, Consultant, Pat Tavis Consulting and a few others.

I will also include some of the references and resources that were distributed during the session:

Books and Journals:

Abella, Kay T. Building Successful Training Programs, a Step-by-Step Guide. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1985.

Brier, David J. and Vickery Kaye Lebbin. “Laulima: Staff Development, Hawaiian-Style.” (Oct. 2001) 46-48.

Creyh, Sheila D. Effective on the-Job Training. Chicago: ALA, 1986.

Staff Development: A Practical Guide. Prepared by the Staff Development Committee, Personnel Administration Section, Library Administration and Management association, ALA; coordinating editors, Anne Grodzins Lipow and Deorah A. Carver. 1992.

Websites:

ABLE http://libraries.idaho.gov/able

CDT http://www.lib.az.us/cdt/

Dynix Institute http://www.dynix.com/institute

InfoPeople http://infopeople.org/WS/ (archived webcasts and training materials)

LearnThat http://ww.learnthat.com/default.asp

LibraryU http://learning.libraryu.org/home/

ORE http://www.olc.org/ore/index.html

SABLE http://libraries.idaho.gov/sable

STAR http://nlc.state.ne.us/ref/star/star.html

TSLAC http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/projects/slmtp/index.html#onlinetutorials

SOLINET http://www.solinet.net/workshops/workshop_templ.cf?doc_id=728